Sound Resistance

Terri Lyne Carrington + Abdullah Ibrahim: two shows, one takeaway

Terri Lyne Carrington’s forthcoming album is ‘We Insist! 2025.’

“I will never again play anything that does not have social significance,”

declared Max Roach in the March 30, 1961 issue of DownBeat magazine. “It is my duty, the purpose of the artist, to mirror his times and its effects on his fellow man. We American jazz musicians of African descent have proved beyond all doubt that we’re master musicians of our instruments. Now what we have to do is employ our skill to tell the dramatic story of our people and what we’ve been through.’’

Roach, the master drummer and creator whose centennial we are still celebrating, delivered his remarks shortly after the release of We Insist! Freedom Now Suite — a landmark statement of the civil rights movement, and still one of the most powerful examples of political protest that has ever come through the jazz pipeline. It was issued as the second album on Candid Records, whose A&R director, the jazz critic and commentator Nat Hentoff, shared Roach’s dedication to the cause.

Last Thursday night at South Jazz Kitchen in Philadelphia, I caught the world premiere of a Terri Lyne Carrington production titled We Insist! 2025. Carrington, who like Roach is a drummer-bandleader who factors social significance into her musical equation — look no further than her ensemble Social Science, and its 2019 album Waiting Game — has recorded this new tribute for the rebooted Candid label, where she serves as A&R consultant; it should be out sometime next spring.

As she explained at South, We Insist! 2025 is a track-by-track interpretation of the Freedom Now Suite, in a contemporary valence. Much of its fresh energy comes from handpicked collaborators like singer Christie Dashiell, trumpeter Milena Casado and vibraphonist Simon Moullier, all of whom were on the gig at South, and will be again when Carrington presents the project at the NYC Winter Jazzfest.

I was on the fence about going out on Thursday, tbh, in my post-election fog. As I said at the top of last week’s audio post, my first instinct was to breathe and regroup. But given the focus of TLC’s inquiry, the gig felt unmissable, especially this week. I knew it was just a matter of time before my reaction to our fuck-around-and-find out election would redirect from despondency to fury — and that the Freedom Now Suite, in addition to being painfully relevant, offers an elegant model of fury forging art.

You also find this fortifying impulse in the music of Abdullah Ibrahim, the South African pianist, composer and bandleader, who just turned 90. On Sunday night, I saw him in concert with a trio, courtesy of Penn Live Arts. Just as many of us in the U.S.A. are harboring dark visions of autocratic rule — and once again facing down the legacies of white supremacy — I had a hunch it would be salutary to check in with Mr. Ibrahim, who grew up under apartheid, and composed one of its protest anthems.

So here below is my critical engagement with these two recent performances. As you’ve no doubt surmised, they come linked by an accident of timing, inseparable from the ominous civic crisis weighing heavily on so many minds over the last week.

If you support The Gig as a paid subscriber, keep scrolling to read my joint review, and a few related thoughts about freedom and fortitude. If this is your stop today, thanks for reading The Gig. Please enjoy the 35-minute clip below: video footage of Max Roach and Abdullah Ibrahim, dialoguing freely at Jazz Baltica in 1997.

And before we move on, I must acknowledge the passing of alto saxophonist, bebop codebreaker, boogaloo wiz, and salty sideline commentator Lou Donaldson. As usual, there is a quick and insightful appraisal from

ETHAN IVERSON

, who frames Papa Lou’s legacy with crisp concision. I assigned and edited this obituary by Michael J. West, who also puts the man and his music in the proper context.

I should note, too, that Christie Dashiell is in the running for Best Jazz Vocal Album at the 2025 Grammy Awards. For WRTI, I wrote a report and some analysis about this batch of nominees. Look for more remarks about the Grammys here soon.

Now let’s get into it.